A 44-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance in Madhya Pradesh’s Harda district, the police said on Friday.
However, the police not found any suicide note yet.
The deceased has been identified as Rajesh Karode, a resident of Dagashankar village in the district. He was reportedly struggling to repay some loans he took from local moneylenders for farming purposes.
Karode had consumed sulfas on Thursday and was rushed to the nearby hospital for treatment. He was later shifted to a private facility from where he was referred to the district hospital. He died there during treatment at around 12 noon on Friday, the police said.
Meanwhile, the deceased’s son Virendra Karode claimed that his father had a debt burden of Rs 40 lakh and moneylenders were troubling him every day because of which he took the extreme step.
He also alleged that the moneylenders had imposed 10 per cent interest on the amounts his father had borrowed, because of which the outstanding amount had increased to Rs 40 lakh, adding that they even had to sell 10 acres of land to repay the loans.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath, who was on a visit to Harda to address an election rally on Friday, has appealed to the farmers not to end their lives due to debt.
“I appeal to the farmers of Madhya Pradesh not to lose heart due to the burden of debt. Wait for five months somehow. As soon as the Congress government is formed in the state, loan waiver will be done and no farmer brother will be have to suffer,” Kamal Nath said.
Incidentally, Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Kamal Patel hails from Harda and has won as many as five Assembly elections from this constituency since 1993.
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